Practical guide · CSV price reviews
Compare supplier price lists without losing the margin picture.
A supplier's new costs are only half the story. Match them to your current catalogue and selling prices to see which rows need a pricing decision.
How do you compare old and new supplier price lists?
Match each item by supplier, SKU and unit; compare the new net cost with the current cost and actual selling price; then review unmatched or ambiguous rows before calculating totals. Gross margin is (selling price − cost) ÷ selling price. Keep proposed price changes separate from approved changes.
A spreadsheet can handle this for a manageable, clean list. FOCUS Margin Desk includes Windows and browser editions for businesses that want a dedicated CSV review, approval and export workflow. This guide works with either approach; the fictional examples below are not customer results.
01 / Prepare
Keep the originals. Define one scenario.
Work on copies. Label the currency, effective date and quantity period. Both lists must use the same currency, tax basis and units. Use your actual net purchase cost, not the supplier's recommended retail price. The effective date labels a scenario; Margin Desk does not schedule changes or automatically choose a dated list.
Current catalogue
One row per customer, supplier, SKU and unit. Leave customer blank for a common selling price. Quantity is optional: blank means unknown; 0 means explicitly zero.
Supplier update
One update per supplier, SKU and unit. An update may affect several customers who buy that item. Keep net costs on the same basis as the catalogue.
A matching pair of CSV rows
These rows are excerpts from the downloadable fictional files. All amounts in this example are JPY.
supplier,sku,item,customer,unit,cost,price,quantity
Osaka Components,0001,Valve assembly,Maple Retail,each,1000,1250,2000supplier,sku,unit,newCost
Osaka Components,0001,each,1100In Excel, use Data → From Text/CSV, select UTF-8 and keep identifier columns as Text. SKU 0001 must not silently become 1. Save edited files as CSV UTF-8.
02 / Check coverage
Match identifiers before comparing numbers.
In Margin Desk, check the column-mapping preview before import. Matching uses supplier, SKU and unit after trimming surrounding spaces. It is case-sensitive; descriptions do not determine a match. A blank supplier matches only another blank supplier. Duplicate or ambiguous keys are excluded rather than guessed.
A box price and an each price are different measurements. Margin Desk does not convert pack sizes, currencies or tax bases. If you use a spreadsheet, make those checks explicit in your own matching process too.
| Result | What it means for the review |
|---|---|
| Four valid matches | Three have quantities. Display vase has a blank quantity, so its total-profit impact is unknown. |
| One unit mismatch | Planter pack costs 1,500 per box; its update is 175 per each. Those figures cannot be compared directly. |
| One missing update | Ribbon roll has no matching supplier update. Check it; a missing update is not evidence of an unchanged cost. |
Record exclusions before using a subtotal. A total for valid rows with known quantities is not the whole-catalogue impact.
03 / Calculate
A 10% cost increase can turn a 20% margin into 12%.
For the fictional Valve assembly sold to Maple Retail, the cost rises from JPY 1,000 to JPY 1,100 while the selling price stays JPY 1,250.
| Measure | Current | Updated cost |
|---|---|---|
| Net unit cost | 1,000 | 1,100 |
| Selling price | 1,250 | 1,250 |
| Gross profit per unit | 250 | 150 |
| Gross margin | 20% | 12% |
Gross margin uses the selling price as the denominator: (1,250 − 1,100) ÷ 1,250 = 12%. This is an eight-percentage-point margin decrease. Markup uses cost as the denominator and is a different measure.
At the assumed 2,000 units, the gross-profit difference is (150 − 250) × 2,000 = −JPY 200,000. This is a scenario for the entered quantity, not a realised loss or a forecast of demand. It excludes overheads and other costs not included in your net unit cost.
04 / Decide
Review a proposed price before approving it.
For a 20% target gross margin at the new cost, the calculation is 1,100 ÷ (1 − 0.20) = JPY 1,375. Margin Desk starts from the higher of the current price and the target price, then rounds up to the selected increment. A cost decrease does not automatically reduce a selling price.
Check contracts, customer circumstances and commercial approval separately. Hold the row or enter a different proposal where needed. A calculation cannot tell you whether a customer will accept a price or continue buying the same quantity.
Export the decision and save the work.
Approve reviewed rows, export the proposed-price CSV and inspect it before applying changes in your own system. Margin Desk does not change live prices. Download the review report and JSON workspace backup, then check that the files reached your computer. There is no autosave. Editing source inputs or scenario settings clears earlier approvals so the changed numbers receive another review.
05 / Choose the workflow
Spreadsheet, Margin Desk or your ERP?
A spreadsheet may be enough
For a manageable one-off list, use a workbook you can inspect and maintain. Build explicit checks for duplicate keys, units, missing matches and unknown quantities. Keep a reviewed copy of the final decisions.
Margin Desk may fit
For catalogue-based distributors or wholesalers with CSV exports who want a dedicated workflow for customer-specific prices, exceptions, proposed prices, approvals and exports. You retain control of the final pricing decision.
Use a suitably configured business system
If you need shared approvals, live inventory or accounting, scheduled effective dates, automated purchasing or direct price updates, assess those requirements in your ERP or another integrated system. Margin Desk does not provide them.
Margin Desk processes files in your desktop browser. It has no direct XLSX/PDF import, currency conversion, cloud sync or multi-user editing. Its exported CSVs, reports and JSON backups are unencrypted; use your company's normal storage and access controls. You do not need to send FOCUS financial files, including for support.
Try the same worked example
Review a supplier-cost change yourself.
The free Margin Desk trial supports 25 catalogue rows and 25 cost-update rows, with approvals, exports and no expiry. Start with the fictional files above.
Full supports 5,000 rows in each table. The English edition is US$499 once per organisation; the Japanese edition is ¥59,800 once per organisation. See the product page and terms for the licence, support and purchase details.